Wednesday, February 17, 2010

What a day...

So yes, tandem nursing has its beautiful moments and then there are days like today. I love that Taj is still so enthusiastic about nursing, but seriously he has become a bit of a boob hog!!! Half of the time I wonder if he even wants to nurse or if he just wants to because his little sister is. Today was exceptionally bad because she really wasn't all that interested in it. So of course as I was completely obsessing over why my 4 month old did not want to nurse, all Taj wanted to do was "nur." So I am in the comfy chair trying to get Peylyn to latch on and I have Taj on the other side screaming "nur, nur." I told him (though I don't think he cared) that until Peylyn nurses he needs to get down and play with his puzzle. This was followed by his response to any situation that is not going his way. He screamed at the top of his lungs. At this point Peylyn completely lost interest because all she wanted to do was stare at this crazy kid sitting on the other side of me screaming.

Finally she nursed and he calmed down and nursed as well. So, there I sat feeling like a crummy mom because I had a son upset that I was letting him nurse until Peylyn did. Then I turned on the DVRed episode of "Teen Mom" from MTV and all of those "bad mom" feelings went right out the window! Both Peylyn and Taj stopped nursing to stare at their crazy mom who was yelling terrible things at the tv.

Oh well, even with all of the tears today we still had a great day. It makes me so proud to see how close Taj and Peylyn are. He is so good with her and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that when she into this world it was not "Ok Taj move over because now the baby is the only one that gets to nurse." It was "Come and join us Taj, the more the merrier."

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Celebrating Taj

Today is February 22nd, Taj's 2nd birthday, and I am feeling a need to write down my birth story for Taj.

Anyway, it was Friday February 22, 2008 and right after I fed the kids breakfast I had my bloody show and I knew that this was the day (only 1 week past my due date). I started cleaning like a mad woman since I knew I would be calling the midwife over shortly. As I cleaned the contractions got stronger. Soon they were getting a little uncomfortable so I decided to hop into the shower where they grew even stronger so I asked Perry to call the midwife and my birthing assistant.

They both showed up within the hour and came in and started to set everything up. Since this was my 3rd home birth I knew what worked for me so I pretty much barricaded myself in the bathroom so that I could have peace and quiet. Also, true to form I sent Perry downstairs to watch tv. Zola and Ajay had already been picked up by their aunt to go out for lunch. This part really wasn't part of the plan, I wanted them to stay around but she had called to see if we all wanted to get together for lunch. I sent them with her to get them out of the house for a bit thinking they would be back before I had the baby. Oh well, I think maybe it was best it worked out this way.

Even though this was my 3rd home birth this was my first with midwives, the first two were assisted by an OB GYN in PA. This was the coolest birthing experience I have had! They completely left me to do what felt right and natural, except for the few times they wanted to listen to his heartbeat. This was ok since I had a Bollywood movie playing on my tv so I didn't mind going into my room once in awhile. Anyway, I loved it because in stead of being constantly checked to see what kind of progress I was making and being told that I could push, they just sat, watched and waited.

At 3:00 in the afternoon I finally emerged from my bathroom with a popsicle (I had been sucking on these things my entire labor) in my hand and said that I was ready to push (at this point the birthing assistant went down and woke up Perry lol). My water had yet to break, but the midwife said to go ahead and push. Well, as I began to push it did break, ALL OVER the midwife! Nice, I am in the final stages and I can't stop apologizing to her. I have to admit it was kind of funny and luckily she was able to laugh it off as well.

Finally, I got back on track with my pushing. We did have to try a few different positions as my soon be born 8lb. 6oz baby was getting a little stuck.

3:35 the midwife told me to reach down and deliver my baby (we had no idea what the sex was). Bringing the baby up to my chest a complete sense of calm came over to me, I just sat there for the longest time looking at this new face. Finally, Perry who was sitting behind me, asked "can we finally see if we have a boy or a girl?" I laughed and told him "You have a new son!"

Shortly after Taj was nursing and Perry was in the kitchen making me a yummy meal of scrambled eggs, toast and orange juice.

The entire day was so quiet and a truly magical way for a baby to enter into the world, well with the exception of me bathing the midwife in amniotic fluid!

Monday, February 1, 2010

All I Can Say is WOW...

OK, so my husband was not completely on board when I came home from the hospital and officially became a tandem nurser. Well, this evening over dinner he was telling me about his day at work. Some how one of the guys in the feed mill and him got on the topic of breastfeeding (let me note that this guys wife had to have her baby at 30 weeks due to issues with preeclampsia) and this young guy stated that breastfeeding was stupid and a pain in the ass. Now as far as I know he has yet to breastfeed, but maybe I am wrong. Anyway, he went on to tell my husband that his wife stopped breastfeeding (their very premature baby) because it was just too time consuming.

My husband would have ended the conversation there except for the fact that this young guy went on to tell Perry (my husband) how disgusting it is that I am nursing two children at once. He asked if I knew what kind of damage I was doing to Taj by still nursing him at this age (he isn't even two yet). My husband went on to tell him about all of the health benefits that there are from extended nursing and that it is a fact that children that are nursed do better in school. Plus, not only is it not disgusting, I am a great mom that listens to her gut and not what all of the people around me say.

This kid laughed at the issue of health benefits because he has a niece that is breastfed (obviously this makes him an expert) and is sick all of the time. Perry told him to look at all of the other crap that they are shoving down her throat.

All I can say is wow...I guess that when push comes to shove Perry really does have my back and that is a great thing to know. I hate to think that I am out here all alone. I always knew that he did really respect the fact that I was so passionate about breastfeeding, but it is great to know that he does actually support my choice to tandem nurse (even if he is just now excepting it).